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Saturday, November 29, 2008

i have now seen the end of it, and thus closed a chapter of my life. for years that movie freaked me out, and aside from being satisfied by finally having seen it in its entirety, i'm also really glad that my having been scared by it was completely justified. even as an adult i can say it was a good horror movie.

as i said to my mum earlier, that's a far cry from how i felt when i saw fright night and was embarrassed that it had caused me years of nightmares. i was embarrassed, but to be fair i was only six years old at the time.

i whiled away the afternoon fiddling with the guitar and catching up on how i met your mother. i eventually painted over half of yesterday's effort, i'll wait and see where that takes me.

my mum and i were discussing sleeping issues, and i laughed when she said i could try to fix them when i'm on holiday by taking a pill each night. i don't need the pill at night, i need the pill at stupid-o'clock in the morning when i wake up right after i've just managed to get to sleep. i need to take sleeping tablets so that i can miss the morning after, and not the party :P

i went out for sushi, sat reading huck finn (not too hard to ignore the wrestling on the telly) and enjoying good miso soup and the usual high-quality sushi. after i got back a bug in my bonnet got me signing up for an online dating service. i can't say that i have much faith in meeting someone interesting online, but it can't hurt to try.

reflections on my upcoming birthday:i can't fill so much of my brainspace with worrying about my health. i got the results from sunday's test and an advisory listing all the things i should and shouldn't do to curb my fainting. some of the recommendations are absurd, and i'm making a decision here and now to chill out and quell the constant concerns over protein, sugar and water consumption, sleep deprivation, lack of physical activity and whatever else pops into my head. like my slipped disc, and... oh, crap. is this ageing? or just bad luck?

in fact, i'm determined to make good of the suggestion i received at the end of the course: "slide". i'm going to slide.

i must admit that i'm a bit sad about some of the sacrifices i've made / am making. i had the same problem with my university years. at the time it's hard, and then afterwards it's all worth it. i was aware of that then, and i'm aware of it now, but being in the army has never really suited my personality. at least i love the work i'm doing, although it's difficult for me to get excited about it. i want to be excited.

things are looking good with the apartment my mother and i are buying, and i *really* want my own space. i can almost taste a sense of permanence. like nailing things into walls and buying furniture.

i was doing great, returned to watching it and then my sound card froze. i've managed to close down everything, but there's an annoying sound stuck so it looks like i need to restart. in honour of this, here are some of the tabs that've remained open:

Friday, November 28, 2008

then stop being a dick.this phrase just popped into my head wednesday, i don't remember what i was thinking about at the time.

army bureaucratic process: i'm waiting for final authorization. it cost me two traumatic hours yesterday morning to get that far. come sunday i'm planning on printing out all the forms again (i really should have made photocopies) and writing a how-to guide for everyone else. it's not right that there's only one person on base who knows what to do and she gets irritated every time she has to explain it.

one of the forms required me to extend the length of my service by 32 days. only that value was filled in in the wrong column, and i'm really glad i caught the error before signing on for an extra 32 months.uh-uh :/

drugs: it's the army's "war on alcoholism and drugs" week coming up. this always upsets me, and we began arguing about it within the team. this is a really difficult argument to get involved in, and every time it takes a few minutes of discussing drug qualities until we get to the meat of the issue.

a) alcohol is a really bad drug, whose general influence is an increase in aggressive / violent behaviour and road deaths. most of the rest of the drugs are just dandy compared to that.

b) in the case of drugs not including alcohol, the cost of prevention far outweighs cleanup and infringes upon personal freedom, rights and dignity. amsterdam is a shining example of how to deal with drugs, their only issue being with foreigners and that's only because the rest of the world insists on remaining five miles behind them.

oops of note: apparently i told my team-mate not to touch something a few days back, and he didn't (i don't remember exactly what i said). it turns out it was what needing touching in order for him to get his work done. swak.

the girl from upstairs... she's, like, becoming an issue. i get the feeling that she's not picking up that although i like her, i don't like her. i'm worried that this is going to turn unpleasant at some stage. :(

toilet scare: beginning to worry about diabetes... i know i consume way too much sugar, especially since discovering my allergy to the desert and not smoking. for a few hours yesterday, i desperately needed to relieve myself every fifteen minutes - like clockwork. this was frustrating, time-wasting, and disturbing. luckily i managed to hold out between leaving the base and getting home, and since then i've been alright. i'm seriously considering requesting blood tests on sunday.

sammy came to town for coffee, and i have to mention something from an odd conversation regarding the process of producing a cup of coffee: i referred to the beans as embryos, which was off the mark.the coffee bean is comparable to an unfertilized egg, which would make coffee grinding the equivalent of sex as far as your caffeine fix is concerned.

i received a small envelope in the mailbox: a 2gb sd card surprise! now i can chill about the backup battery being wonky.

sammy gave me a ride to the shitty ars-hole of a club that my ex-team-mate's farewell party was at. the company was great, and most of the night the music wasn't awful. specifically, all the 80's remixes went down well. some of the house remixes were just plain offensive, original tracks based on awesome beats have had crap ones tacked on instead.

i hadn't been feeling good, but beer & rum don't hurt. i'm amused that i ordered captain morgan's spiced gold, and received captain morgan's with sprite. israeli bartenders. speaking of incompetence: i really despise shoddy, sleazy waitresses who demand a tip. i was busy calculating it when she looked at me and shouted "you'd better leave me a good tip!".

a strange incident popped into my head: once upon a time, in a club called spyce, i was on the dancefloor wearing a the who's - tommy t-shirt that said "see me feel me touch me heal me". a really pretty blonde girl walked up to me, looked me up and down, felt me up and kissed me. i was really, really awkward about this, and responded in a way that embarrassed me almost immediately afterwards (it was a silly response, not too bad - but still)....it turned out that she was a friend of a friend, and i ran into her a few days later. i thought i'd made a fool of myself so i kept my distance, and that's a shame.

one of the girls got really drunk on absinthe last night, and apparently this isn't the first time. the kid, piles and i made a hasty exit.

piles and i had a long talk (a continuation of the last one, really), and i got home, showered and crashed.

i woke up rough a couple of hours later, unable to talk after last night's smoke inhalation. i went to the post office to pick up a package. i was certain that it was the wireless card, so i was a tad disappointed when my three awesome books arrived. i'm a lot more excited about them now :)

i went with nystire and his brother for coffee. the reason for the link is that he was annoyingly talkative about nothing this morning, and i wasn't feeling good.

i bought cake on the way home, which turned out to be a far more complicated mission than i'd anticipated. and expensive, too.

i tried to sleep for an hour or two, but eventually gave up and got up agitated. i went shopping with the new flatmate, a guilt shop because she couldn't carry everything herself :S

i went to meet lake for breakfast, and i gotta say it was nice but weird. meeting lake, not the breakfast. the breakfast was alright. i was a bit concerned by the photos i saw of her on facebook, but they're just not particularly good photos. she's not quite as pretty as i remembered, but then about six years have passed and we're both a little older.

she gave me a hammock chair for my birthday. that was a surprise.

i walked home, and put on stephen king's it. it's a long bloody movie [sic], so i've been pausing and doing stuff* and returning again.

* i'm not happy with it, but it was more or less spontaneous. i'm now deciding whether or not to paint over it... i've never considered that a possibility before.

i've just gotten back from an hour or so at a random bar with a couple of my old team-mates. and i left there shaking my head and thinking to myself how absurd it is that my previous team-mates are constantly going out together to bars and concerts, they're in each others' houses a lot more than before i left, and i'm now serving with a team that has to organize two weeks in advance to watch a movie and eat pizza.

and the conversation was a lot more... cultured. i'm really glad that they're the type of people to stay in touch.

on the way there i ran into egg, who was rushing off to patch things up with a girl / love of his life / employee that he really shouldn't be dating. i've been telling him for a week or two that he has to make a decision, and one that they both can stick to. either their fling stops or they cease to work together, israel's policies on this sort of behaviour are horrifically strict and not to be trifled with.

...

this morning and the last i've been suffering neck pain, specifically in the shuttle to work. and wrist pain, specifically when playing with the guitar.

the holiday authority wasn't around today either. this is making me tense.

i've finally finished being in charge of logistics for last thursday night ^_^i handed in the last outstanding piece of equipment, and am feeling easier.

although speaking of feelings, either i'm sleep-deprived or i'm sick. i don't know which.

i spoke to my lawyer today, and got a clear update on the current apartment situation. a bit later, the agent called me, all stressed out, to say that my lawyer's playing silly buggers. i'm not going to be pressured into anything, and i have a clear idea already of just how on-the-ball my lawyer is, so i called her back to tell her to chill. i don't need that sort of excitement when i'm trying to work.

aaaaaaaaand speaking of interfering with work, the lotto called me to tell me i've been selected for a discount buying tickets. she was very patient with me while i figured out that it was a completely unsolicited call, was very polite when i asked her what this means to someone who doesn't play the lotto, and was extremely rude when i told her to remove my name from her list.

i stopped by azrieli to swap out the fleece sweater i was given by my cousins. i got myself really nice trousers and a funky orange bag for snowboarding. by that stage i was feeling horrible and desperate to get home, and for some unknown reason [delirium?] took the train which added about half an hour to my journey.

i ate and chilled for a bit, felt better, then walked off to the bar. on the way i passed the iStore, and waltzed in to check out bluetooth adapters for the ipod. the one i walked out with [not the same company, but same product] is way cooler and cheaper than what i found on ebay. i just bought a headset on ebay, which was way cheaper and cooler than the ones they had at the iStore.

so i think i'm sorted for those. i just noticed that i didn't mention singing to a perfect circle at the top of my voice most of the way home :P

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

the hey video is pretty cool, and it was fun to watch it on a screen next to the stage with eatliz performing the song.

lee triffon was wearing a fantastically sexy outfit. she's still a bit awkward with crowd handling, but she's a far sight improved.it's a pity they only performed for an hour, i know they have much more material. they did play all their best songs, though, which was most considerate.

the company was good too, a couple of girls and one of the guys from my previous team - it also looks like i have potential munchkin partners :) [we'll find out tomorrow if they're interested]

it's late, i'm deciding whether or not to sleep in a bit and arrive late to work. i can do that, i think.

my day:juno reactor in the morning is nice. when i got to work, i really got straight to work - my TL had left me some bits in my inbox to deal with. i ran straight from that into trouble with measurements, we were all talking at cross-purposes and by the time i figured it out and explained it to everyone it was afternoon already. at least we'll know for next time, but it was a bit of a head-fuck.

we're going backwards with the holiday permissions. the authority called me up to ask me what was going through my mind when i filled out the form without her. the last time i spoke to her i was told that she can't help me until i've filled out the form and gotten it signed. then i discovered that the system and i disagree as to how much leave i have left... and by the time we were all satisfied on our side the authority had left for the day.

i spoke to a fellow oddity in need this morning, she's going through a similar ordeal to what i went through when moving units. i hope that what i told her can be of assistance.

on short notice - too short to grab some coffee or an energy bar - we were all whisked away to a lecture on holocaust deniers. that's the explanation for my being in a desperate "hold eyes open with fingers" mode.one of the videos we watched made me think of a musical interlude with a neo-nazi giving a speech in german, fuhrer style, along the lines of "i'm very angry and i don't know why".

these are all very angry / bored people. and you can't argue with them, because they dismiss all the proof as forged. let's just shut down all educational institutions now, shall we? because obviously we can't prove anything.

when we got back from lunch i was suffering from extreme exhaustion - i could barely stand, let alone concentrate. as soon as i finished a cup of super-strong coffee i had to mission off to the other side of base again with awkward equipment, one of the guys was really nice and helped us out with a hand and a car - he saved the afternoon.

i got some good work done in the evening, although not enough (this is kind of a trend), and then it was home-time again. i've paid the caretaker and played around with my strings, now i'm off to see eatliz again :)

i'm going to bed, after a couple of hours of making noises and hurting my fingers (although i'm feeling more confident with my guitar than i was, say, yesterday), i stopped watching the dark side of the rainbow around part xi, mainly because i had to try the riff to money (yay! it doesn't completely suck when i do it), started downloading stephen king's it because it terrified me and i've never seen the ending, learned that wind traps are in the realm of possibility and that spacex is chugging along nicely, and if it was ethical i'd post a photo of s'belle who's looking incredible (although the "wow" i wrote as a comment was the first communication we've had since i apologized for being honest).

Monday, November 24, 2008

i finally got to sleep soon after midnight, and woke up feeling a bit better. i did forget my pda, though - it's only been a few days and its absence already made the day a little more complicated. i'm sort of pleased :Pheck, i've just discovered using it for shopping lists. why didn't this occur to me before?

that day wasn't bad, although this morning was a lot of time wasted and the afternoon wasn't as efficiently used as i would have liked. the last hour and a half saw me getting more work done than i have in a week. i was enjoying it, though. i need to figure out a way to shift my day forward a few hours without too many transport hassles. it's incredible how much more productive everyone towards the end of the day.

i drank about four litres of water today. it's not simple to remember, so i have a reminder pop up on my desktop every half an hour. ridiculous. *swigs*

i'm beginning to be concerned that my holiday isn't sanctioned yet, and the woman who handles the authorizations is constantly out of the office. not that i'm not unsympathetic to her new kid's needs, just that i'm sympathetic to my own as well.

***

discussing snowboarding over lunch was dangerous. nystire's TL has bought a board, and that's something i don't think i could live with. i have enough issues with my snow fantasies overlapping my regular days, having such a pretty reminder in my face all the time would drive me over the edge.

as it is, while we were talking i kept having flashbacks of experiences that completely overrode my present, i was there for a few seconds at a time and i'm now back to pining desperately.

one of the guys from the first leg of the course i just completed came by to my office for a visit today, he's a nice guy but extremely awkward. i was actually quite glad when my TL walked in and immediately put me to work, it gave me an easy exit.

over the last few years i've learned the importance of quick and easy goodbyes. goodbyes are not complicated affairs, although it takes a while to learn this. it's the art of saying "gotta run, bye" and putting the phone down, or "i gotta get back to work, see-ya". you don't need to make a big deal of it, you don't need to wish the person well nor wait to be wished in return.

its not important. let - it - go.

***

an academic officer annoyed me this evening while getting on the shuttle, and i'm hoping the fact that his behaviour improved afterwards had something to do with what i said, otherwise my irritation was meaningless. once i got home, i hurried to the bank only to discover that they close fifteen minutes earlier now than they used to :(

***

i just remembered that i found out yesterday that the history channel's mind control wasn't the documentary i was told about, which is why it disappointed me.

***

that girl who sent me the "i love you and miss you" message sent another one, also signed "love you": "i want to see you ok?"... that's... a little more worrying than yesterday's.

i've just had a really funny discussion over a cup of tea with our new flatmate concerning big brother, britney spears and mosh ben ari's wailing, which made me laugh enough that my headache's going away and i'm hoping that means i'll be able to sleep soon.

after the last time we talked and the length of time that's passed since then, i'm intrigued that lake is actually interested in keeping in touch with me again. and one of the girls from the course responded to a simple "happy birthday" message with "i love you and miss you!". wow. i must be having a good hair week.

right now, i feel like crap. i woke up at 5.20am to sip some water, slept another half an hour, then got up and ready for the hospital.

i arrived there on time, and only had to wait an hour and a half to see the doctor. the american woman, very sweet, explained the procedure (which was slightly less insidious than the article i'd read made out), hooked me up, strapped me in and raised the bed to 70o.

for between half an hour to forty-five minutes my blood pressure was checked and she asked me all sorts of personal questions (nothing offensive, but not medical), and just as i began to feel a little shaky - vision blurring a bit and that sort of thing - she put drops of nitroglycerin under my tongue and a short while later i passed out.

it's an ugly, ugly feeling.

they wouldn't let me go until i'd cease to look deathly. i took the bus to the city officer, was told that the court-martial threat i'd received from the clinic i went to in october was irrelevant, and then marched off to shinto for a decent breakfast.

i paid a visit to a few friends at my original base, it was nice to see them and amusing to see the reactions to my new rank, and then i left for my current base.

i arrived on base at 4pm, having had to walk around it because the geniuses have now closed our gate permanently (and of course, nobody told me). so i made it to work in time to clean the office (it was my turn), check some of my mail and then leave again.

i've been feeling absolutely horrible, with a terrible headache, since i finished cleaning. i'm going to bed now.

i was most of the way through perfect stranger when the file bugged out, so that sucked. i picked up the guitar again and alternated between that and internet things, then spent a long time chatting with the new flatmate.

the discussion moved on to weirdness, and i introduced her to the more psycho music videos of tool, nine inch nails and marilyn manson. then i rushed off to meet with egg at a good bar nearby... pity i gave up an opportunity to meet a really cute girl, because we started talking about it later on and i started messing with my own head.

i need to get into the program, play the game, and not wait for good moments.

my current state is comfortable, and in another five hours i'm going to be getting ready to be strapped to the table. i hope i'm feeling as comfortable with the whole idea when i wake up.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

wow - i just got back from a really nice afternoon lunch & read at coffeeholic, sitting under the shelter in the pouring rain, the first i've seen this winter. my penny arcade hoodie and i are both happy with the walk-about there, back and to the atm, especially at being escorted by soundgarden, pearl jam, ac/dc and serj tankian.

i woke up at 8am again this morning (how surprising!), after having made the decision to not do anything apropos last night's entertainment. i finally managed to watch the rest of hudson hawk, and this review says it all (although my personal response wasn't so intense).

i did play around with the guitar a little, some things feel good and some really don't. it's a frustrating start.

i slept for a bit, and woke up with lake's name in my head. so i looked her up on facebook, and was surprised to find her. and more surprised when she accepted my friend request. only afterwards, sitting at coffeeholic, did i read scott brown's most excellent article i'll be there 4 U... how appropriate!

Friday, November 21, 2008

i exited briefly to do some emergency shopping, decided that a bluetooth adapter for my ipod may be worthwhile in the long run but i can't be arsed to get it now, and then absorbed some internet for a bit.i just watched rat race, which is marvellously entertaining in spite of a few bits of ultra-silliness that simply never appeals to me.

egg's on a date, and the kid and his friends aren't into parties with girls and good music, so i need a new partner-in-crime. i've been needing one or two of those for a while now. i really wanna go to the depeche mode party tonight, and i'm none too keen on going it alone :S

i just watched next, a cute movie, after failing to watch hudson hawk - i kept passing out and eventually gave up.

i took another couple of bags of clothing to the donation point this morning, then walked through to the tailor, the hardware store, and good breakfast / lunch with some friends.

the difference between today and a regular friday mission is that i was wearing my "real men don't wear pink" shirt. it's a shirt that requires courage to put on - i really can't stand pink, at all - and not enough people actually read it.i wouldn't care except that those who don't get it are seeing me wearing a pink shirt.those who *did* bother to read the shirt were well impressed, though, and i got quite a few compliments and thumbs-ups.

angry lettuce stalk residue from yesterday's dinner, i think. when i was eating i swallowed a piece too large for my gullet, and it took a while to move down... painfully. this morning i suffered from mild irritation in that area. uncomfortable.

WIRED: we spent a long time in traffic today, so i got a chance to break out my november copy and be absolutely mortified to discover that somebody thinks that bad boys rates "expired". i just wrote in to demand a re-evaluation.

unit celebration: after setting up, we went out for lunch. my meal was great, i don't know about the other guys', but the service wasn't so hot. an hour and a half later we walked to my place to drop off my bag, then watch-shopped (some really shiny objects), and sat down for ice-cream (i mixed whiskey and tiramisu, a wonderful combination).

once we were back, we witnessed the final rehearsal and began mingling. schmoozing, eating, and then the speeches and movies began. some of them were truly excellent.i was responsible for the microphone, charged with the serious duty of taking it off the stage and then replacing it at strategic moments.

so that's what i spent half a year in the desert training to do.

after packing up (and feeling totally crap), i walked home (speaking to my mother) and got stuck online. now i'm about ready to shower and get some sleep.

W-41 is the perfect target for shock site attacks. if i'm not mistaken, all it would take is for one person to buy in, link to something particularly gruesome, and then copy his disc for a bunch of sadistic friends.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

whoooooooo-boy, getting up this morning sure was rough. i pity the poor bastards down south at the moment, if it had been winter they'd have thrown me out for tardiness for sure.

i fixed band-aided the backup battery this morning with the cellphone trick i learned at the orange counter: i simply slid a folded up piece of paper underneath the cover. super hi-tech.

i just discovered that my BMI status is "overweight". ha ha. cute.

it occurred to me this morning that it's a fair supposition that i have to drink, because chocolate doesn't count as a vice anymore. no more amusing facebook updates, though - my colleagues really don't need to know that i consume on schoolnights... and of course, i can't drink more than a couple of pints. i don't want the mother of all hangovers to return.

the hairdresser moved. without informing anyone. at first i walked all the way to the other side of the base (wasting a good half an hour), and then when i got to the new place (right next to my office, of course) i was told that my appointment would have to be postponed. i didn't think to report this because they told me off for not paying attention to the instructions when making an appointment.

later on i checked and discovered that there weren't any instructions, and that i wasn't the only person surprised that they'd moved. i sent an email to everyone in the unit, and aside from the usual silly responses from people who don't use the base hairdresser's services i got a number of comments that it would have been useful to have received the mail earlier :S

on sunday the officer at the quarter-master's store assured me that we'd have five of each of the requested items available today. when i got there i discovered that there were only three of each, and that i wasn't authorized to sign off on them. i was in a state afterwards because i made a really stupid (and novice) mistake that pissed her off, but before going home one of the guys spoke to me and told me that it's her overreacting, and that i don't need to worry. apparently lots of people get into the same situation with her... pleasant service, yes.

my haircut is horrible. when an ars chops your fro, he makes you look like one of his kind. the weird bit was getting complimented in spite of my misgivings, and one girl got all gushy when she saw me: "you look so good. how are you? you look so... GOOD."that was a little awkward for me. i just winked and smiled and turned tail and fled.

i went to the cafeteria to pick up guarana, and learned that it's been banned from all our bases along with the great tinned coffee because they're not kosher. that's a bummer. one of the guys from my team in the desert and his best friend were there when i went in, it was good to see them. i bought a doughnut on my way out, and then internalized a very important lesson: you can't eat jelly-doughnuts in uniform.

the last point of the day was group therapy for the application that i've resumed complaining about. three guys going crazy, and there's me to pick up the pieces and show them how it's done. i impressed myself with my unforgotten skills more than them, but we're all of the same opinion, we need to do something about getting other software in. basically, i'm going to have to write a prototype in my own time, which sucks, so that i have something to propose a solution with.

my pda's been ruling my world, and i'm happy with it! so much better than my cellphone :)i got home, won a memory card auction on ebay for a 2Gb card ($6.50, $1 for charity and free delivery!) and went out to buy a fuzz-removing roller-thingy for my uniform.

when i got home i chatted with my new flat-mate over dinner (i stood eating in the kitchen, nothing fancy), and tried to convince her that she needs to do some kind of fun physical activity (like sport or dancing) if she wants to retain her sanity and health - you can't work and study all day long, it's depressing and unhealthy. and she's studying to be a physiotherapist, she should know this. the fact that she's the only student in her class who isn't a fitness instructor or champion of something should be an important clue.

i hopped on my blades, sat with egg and learned a bit more about my guitar from him, then bladed back home (with the guitar on my back) to shower and pluck a few more strings before getting ready for bed.

a pained awakening this morning. tidying took up most of it, but we had an "office-warming" which included breakfast. that reminds me, there're a couple of people in our section who arrived during my time in the desert, and i didn't know they belonged to us. so i guess i *do* need to remember their names.

that horrible program that i wasted two months of my life on? now instead of wasting time on it myself, i've been reduced to teaching others the pleasures of self-soul-mutilation.

i was treated to an incredibly enlightening impersonation of my accent today. it was hard to accept, because it's difficult to hear the nuances, but i've definitely got a lot of work to do if i'm going to sound like a normal israeli one day.

lunch was sort of edible, and then nystire's TL and i went hunting for posters. we found them in all the wrong colours, like pink, but with the help of one of my team-mates i managed to sort it out later. on the way back from the mission, i got to explaining (or trying to explain) munchkin to her... i guess a demonstration is in order.

we ate lots of chocolate biscuits and i was exhausted, but on my way out the door to make myself coffee our SC caught two of us and made us sit down and work. he managed to find more ways to waste our time in the near future by giving us meaningless tasks to perform, and because i'm replacing our TL for most of the next month or so it was up to me to get my team-mates to understand the rationale behind it :S

dealing with holiday bureaucracy sucks.

i had to make a quick switch when i got called into a meeting as acting TL - it's one thing to make sure things keep running, it's quite another to be involved in decision-making. i'm not complaining, not by a long shot - i'm glad for the opportunity :)

we had a half-hour section meeting about nothin', where the kinder learned about peg-solitaire: it was fun to watch and entertained me to see the look on his face when i solved it ;)

i had a successful meeting after that with our project manager, and i feel like it made up for the lack of productivity during the day.

the real estate agent and the lawyer got in touch today, and i have to admit i'm quite excited!

riding without dashboard lighting is an odd but amusing experience.

the pda's backup battery (that i replaced two nights ago) has a bad connection, which means that some of the time it reports being half full, some of it empty, and the rest 100%. the purpose is to preserve data when the main battery days, so if it's inconsistent it isn't really helping. essentially it's just keeping the pda from beeping at me annoyingly about not having a backup battery.

my nose is blocked. it has been the whole day.

frisbee! serious frisbee, for over an hour, followed by a beer at the side of the road, shopping, and a good shower. now i've got to get some sleep. i'm exhausted.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

i was bothered for most of the day because i was convinced that my shoes look clownish - but apparently they don't.

i had a run-in with a couple of arabs this morning, we all looked at each other and they sat down next to me, then paused to exchange a glance and light up cigarettes, at which i bolted. kinda rude of them, and i think they did it to spite me and my uniform. just a feeling.

this morning's hospital experience was frustrating: i was a bit less confused than last time because i was already familiar with a few steps, but they made the bits i'm not familiar with even more difficult to navigate and the signage hasn't improved. i could swear they do this on purpose.

to make things worse, i waited an hour and a half for the doctor only to repeat the same drill i've gone through at least five times already with as many doctors - because they can't trust a medical referral from the army. so that was a waste of five hours, and will have to be repeated next week when i go in for the actual test i was supposed to be undergoing.

i learned a new word today: "flipcha stand". it's a horrible translation from "flip-chart", and means easle in army-slang. and i was done a favour by a girl who's been avoiding me for over a day: she told me it was because i was being so nice.

in other words - here's a show of appreciation for not flipping out and screaming at me, and being polite and friendly towards my girls in spite of them putting on luck hari's attitude from thursday [SPOILER PICTURE].

i didn't get any work done, and when the time came to go i was completely drained even though i hadn't really achieved much and had been planning overtime.

i didn't feel too much better when i got home, but i did burn twenty cds for our unit celebrations coming up and i did some old-document recycling. there's a whole lot of stuff that i can't throw away, not only because there're important things i've managed to hold onto but because some of it's absolutely hysterical!

as soon as i was done i bussed through to egg's, stopping on the way for noodles. he taught me a couple of chords and i made a bit of noise, we watched weird-al yankovic videos and then went to smith's for a couple of beers. it was a good evening.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

i suddenly remembered that i meant to write a post, but i've been distracted by all sorts of things. so, in no particular order:

i just had the longest chat with my mother, about lawyers and apartments. i went to see a really shiny apartment this evening right next to the rabin square, at a too-good price for a place that really wouldn't need to be touched in order to make me happy.it's rare to find a proper shower and decent floors, and enough space to swing a cat all in the same place.

it doesn't make the other place any less attractive, though, so i'm just going to have to pursue both. if only this evening's one wasn't so suspiciously too-good-to-be-true.

my mom made me laugh - i told her she doesn't need a really nice oversized flat-screen if she doesn't really watch movies.

i went past the gym earlier to pick up the kid's papers, and they'd only just sent it. i don't know just how useless/useful the woman was being, what she claims and what i heard don't match, so i'm not really in a position to judge.

my new flatmate got me hysterical this evening: i told her this morning that i was sad about them removing the sign, and she felt really bad. we had a long discussion about it and i really can't tell how serious she's being - she eventually made a sign so that i could take it off the door, and i was trying to explain that it just wouldn't be the same :P

i shopped this evening, for shoes for my new uniform and to use up sports points. so i tried on the shoes, decided they were comfortable... took them off, turned them upside down and showed the storekeeper that they weren't a matching pair. i don't know what gave it away, but after i saw the soles i began noticing the other differences: this is a bemused "thank you" to growing up in a shoe warehouse. they eventually found the other shoe.

i went to the sports store to use up credits, but they don't stock wheels for aggressive skating and i ended up buying wrist pads and a helmet. just in case.

scraps from the pda:

firstly, the pda itself is actually rather useful. i replaced the backup battery so it's not whining all the time, and the regular battery's pretty solid. the only problem left is the lack of wireless: the guy in the first store i went by told me that it's a rare thing to find (nowadays wireless is integrated) and the guy at the second store took a while to register that they didn't stock the right stuff.

so i got home, did some research... and bought a wireless card not for NIS 350 (between $80 and $100), but for just under NIS 80 (including shipping - $21.50 if i recall correctly). so i'm quite chuffed and i'll be able to check mail and blog and facebook from coffee shops now, because that's the only thing that's been keeping me from becoming properly antisocial.

notes:

on the way to the shops, i witnessed a guy lifting up his small child by its legs (with its back resting on his chest) next to a tree for a "squirt". this was a rather odd thing to view, and i immediately got paranoid about wind-direction and prayed that nothing made it to me :S

unfortunate reappraisal: about ten minutes before the end of the workday i arrived at the conclusion that i've been going about my current project all wrong.

we began the day setting up a stage, which was marginally entertaining. the walls of the hall are painted with shards of glass to keep everyone on their toes. and bleeding.

we went for a most civilized cup of coffee afterwards, and then arrived on base in time for lunch, so all in all it was a very well-handled morning. the only thing that would have been better is if my mom hadn't woken me up at 6am with an sms when i'd only gotten to sleep around 2. i love you mom!

well, i came back on a high from a brilliant performance, noble brats kick ass! yaniv peleg's talented and aside from the moustache (a bit of a sore point) has style, the music kicks ass (especially walking through the mirror) and it was a shame that not many people know of these guys.

my high kinda broke a few minutes ago when i saw the sign from our door lying face-down in a pool of nothing. it's the "men" bathroom sign we copied from invader zim, and apparently it's no longer in vogue. my sense of belonging just got shook up properly, as if it wasn't enough that the kid's out and there're flowers on both tables.

my guitar's at egg's, meaning i'll just have to pay him a visit during the week so that i can practise a bit. he made an interesting observation: i have no time for any of the shit that i want to do, but i still manage to do more than most. i'm just going to have to keep it up :)

so in a couple of hours i'm off to his place with my guitar, and then we're going to the performance at levontin - noble brats sounds really, really interesting. click the note icon in the bottom left corner to listen.

i've just been figuring out stuff with the kid's legacy - the dell axim x5 - and it bothers me that the wireless card that would make it awesome costs around NIS 350, and i'm not really ready to make such a commitment.

a plan well executed, what a fun movie! my next plan was to wake up around 10.30pm to go to the meimad for the alternative line's anniversary, but i had difficulty napping until around 9pm... and then slept like a baby until 2am.

i decided to go anyway, and the new flatmate was shocked that i was getting ready to go out when she was just getting back from whatever partying she'd been doing :P

going was a brilliant idea, the party was packed and the music was great; i even had a couple of beers and didn't fall over - and everyone who saw my broken smiley shirt got excited ^_^

there's a girl that i've mentioned before, for years we keep having these weird encounters and she's always excited to see me. quite frankly, i can never decide if she's really shy, properly insane or slightly, umm, damaged, but it doesn't really matter. i almost asked her a question this morning, then stopped myself when i realized that the magic in our "relationship" is the mystery, and i don't actually want to know her name, or anything else about her for that matter.

i left on a high note and in the middle of a fantastic metal piece, the echoes of which followed me for quite a ways on my walk home. that was a good party. my throat's a bit sore from the smoke, but also from screaming along :)

i got to sleep around 6.30 (i tried watching the history channel's mind control, but kept nodding off), and woke up around 8.30am as usual :Si just got up for real, now it's time to clean the apartment.

Friday, November 14, 2008

which began with me reading giger's foreword, which is really interesting. then i shaved and went searching for a tailor. i got to my meeting with the agent before i found one, had a cup of coffee with them and discussed how we're going to proceed, then continued my search.

i got to view another apartment before i found one, a really pretty apartment but five square metres makes a large difference. although it's in really snazzy condition, it just doesn't light me up, and i continued my search.

i got to the games store before i found one, and just couldn't decide between munchkin fu, munchkin cthulu and super munchkin - they didn't have the basic set. although cthulu anything is cool (like my new "buddy cthulu" shirt), it doesn't appeal to everybody (which isn't helpful when trying to introduce newbies), so i flipped a coin between the other two.i'm actually glad that the outcome wasn't munchkin fu, but only because i've played it and i know i'd enjoy it, and it's always better to try new things. then i continued my search.

i found a tailor, and what a tailor i found! he's one of those special characters, kinda like the soup-nazi, in high demand, doing good, cheap work, who with a comical seriousness barks orders and insults at all his customers, all the while demonstrating magnanimity and professionalism.

sharp as a button and full of shit, he finished the work in two seconds and let me go with a smile. i'll be going back there.

across the road i went, intent on harassing the guy at the hardware store over silicon and velcro. he caught me out immediately, though, and as i opened my mouth to ask for something he barked "ain't got none of that". i stopped, then opened my mouth again to retort but he got there first: "we've *just* run out". he managed to keep this up until i actually had to stop and think of a way to get past, but then he just smiled and got helpful.

i didn't let him get off easily, though - i posed a problem with my silicon request that we eventually agreed would need to be handled by a factory or something. it was nice that he agreed that it's a good idea :)

on my way back home i passed a book store, one of those ancient, dusty ones like that from the neverending story (i need to buy the book again, it's fantastic).

i walked in, browsed a bit and got my eye caught on a rather elegant collection of israeli poetry / prose. i was quite taken with it, and decided it would have to come home with me... only i suddenly had the strangest sensation that i was in a library and not a bookstore. i looked around and couldn't find any sign of sales, so i awkwardly went to the girl sitting at the entrance and asked her if i'd got it right.

sweet girl, she was greatly amused and very coy about the whole thing, to the point where i was convinced she thought i was high. i walked out laughing, and the smile didn't fade, it's been one of those days ^_^

i turned on the palmtop that the kid left me, and it's pretty cool although there appears to be an issue with the backup battery. and now that i've played with it a little i seem to have gotten it stuck on the start-up screen. fabulous. if i can get it sorted out then the only thing i'll have to organize is a wireless card to make it sweet.

i went to jeremiah for coffee, breakfast, and then beer and orange juice when karnaf rocked up. we moved on to play frisbee in the park, and when the sun started to go down i came back home to... shower and sit online before watching horton hears a who!: that's the plan, anyway.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

i found the shoe store, but couldn't decide what style to go for. and of course, i'm not entirely sure what's legit. i only know army boots. i did get big, warm half-gloves, though.

i stopped at coffeeholic for coffee (the guy made it really quickly, but he forgot to give me a chance to tell him what coffee i wanted and to make it with soya...), read about our re-elected mayor and the issues he's about to face (and probably doesn't really care about), and then moved on to the apartment that wowed me last night.

it wowed me again this evening, perhaps a little more so, and i took photos for mum. i'm meeting with the agent tomorrow morning early, amongst the other five or six things i need to do... it's been a busy week.

i had dinner at cafeneto, listening to pink floyd while continuing with the adventures of huckleberry finn, and then did some serious shopping before coming back home for a shower. i was thinking about going out tonight, but i'm too tired.

1) apartment: the phone didn't stop ringing all day. i've been authorized the mortgage i need, and i'm going by this evening to snap some photos for my mum, and i've even been cut a break on sunday morning to go by the city council. and there're two apartments that i'm going to check out tomorrow.

2) work: didn't get very far with the under-pressure project, for two reasons. the first being system issues - i eventually gave up trying and used a pencil and paper instead of word, the second was being considered fill-in TL for the day, which scored me a wasted afternoon on a management task the how's of which my superiors can't decide on.

3) logistics: i'm responsible for organizing the equipment for an event coming up, and getting basic stuff done takes an amusing and disproportionate amount of time.

4) i'm wearing my new uniform, this time without the broken zip, and it does feel snazzier.

5) sinus trouble: makes it kinda hard to focus.

6) the bank site is really useful for getting my current status, but horrible for anything else, like account history.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

i went to the gym to work out my tension, and i was most successful.the woman i spoke to last night has pissed me right off by not doing what she was supposed to, but i seem to have gotten through to the new girl and she seems to be making an effort. this wait-until-tomorrow deal is irritating.

that reminds me of something i forgot to mention earlier: the party i voted for got in, but the guy we all need to get rid of managed to hold on to the reigns for another term. that sucks. i'd much rather it'd been the other way around.

this morning i removed a couple of magazines from my bag because they were too heavy and i judged them to be excess for the day. the important papers that i needed to take to work just happened to be between them.

i'm back on base in full force, including phoning in complaints about the food. the complaints department were really on the ball this time. i told the woman i wanted to complain about the soup, and her immediate and completely natural-sounding response was "did it cause you to throw up?"...accompanied by raucous laughter in the background, i told her that no, it didn't make me throw up - but that's because it was so totally disgusting that i couldn't bring myself to try more than a spoonful.

and i was told later that it actually wasn't mushroom soup.

i've been assigned a rather tricky logistics mission, and that required getting to the far side of the base when i'm already overloaded with work. that was a fair waste of half an hour, because all of logistics were on a sports break. if only they could have sent an email to the rest of us to tell us not to pay them any visits :S

my team-mate - now ex-team-mate - organized my new uniform today, so from tomorrow i'll be looking way spankier. spiffier. neater, tidier, and more productive...

i had difficulty choosing books this evening (i got a gift certificate from up north); i ended up skipping on the religion (or pro-atheism) stuff and went with joann fletcher - cleopatra the great, the woman behind the legend and the taschen 25th anniversary giger [pronunciation from giger's website].

i was running late, but i knew i had to eat so i stopped by bar gurion for a sammich. i was agitated, and i didn't know why, but that agitation has grown since and i can't decide if it's excitement or not.

the apartment i went to see really made its mark solidly. big enough, pretty with only minor fixes necessary and in a superb area... i hope everything follows smoothly from here.

i went to the pharmacy to replace my tweezers this evening. i was hunting them this morning, and couldn't figure out who would take someone else's tweezers - weird! i put up a wanted poster in the bathroom before leaving, but this afternoon a thought suddenly struck, and i called up the kid.

"no, i have my own," he told me. it turns out he's been using my tweezers all along thinking they were his, and i can't decide if that's more funny than gross.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

i've just gotten back from running, a serious run that i'm amazed i survived. when i cool down a bit i'll shower and eat, so you can imagine me sitting here, slick and uncomfortable while typing this. made your day yet? it gets better!

our gym's secretary has been giving the kid a hard time over transferring a document, so i went by to speak to them and tomorrow we'll find out if they're going to give me a hard time too. the difference is that i'm planning on renewing next year, and if they're not going to play nice then i'll just take my cash elsewhere.

on the way back i joined our new flatmate to help her out with the shopping. she did a complete work-over on our kitchen and bathroom today, it was the least i could do.

i voted today - the procedure confused me a bit but it wasn't too obscure. i've now voted for a communist anti-zionist, which as a zionist is tough but the man seems to be the better candidate as far as tel aviv is concerned. whoever gets the job done, i'm not really too interested in his personal ideals unless they start making a real difference.

so here's the fun bit of the day: i've been given a job to do which isn't too complicated, but is quite demanding on trigonometry, a subject i haven't touched in years and i've forgotten all the fun ways to calculate sides from angles and so on. so that's my mission for this evening :)

i paid ta2 a visit, the music was good and i did alright with tekken 5 on the wide screen - the bartender was horrified that i didn't take advantage of the bottomless beer. i wish i could've.

i had time to think because very few people rocked up (this late weekday thing won't be working for me for another couple of years, but i've promised myself that one day i'm going to make sure -somehow - that most days of the week i don't get out of bed before 10am), and i thought about a lot.

like how i'm actually quite happy to be doing what i'm doing at the moment. and about how glad i am to be able to appreciate my free time again.

i was bouncing up and down to solid rock (mostly ac/dc, pearl jam and chris cornell) the whole way home, and now i've showered and i'm hitting the hay. my body's been stiff and sore since yesterday's training, i'm feeling my muscles and my lats are taking up more space than they rightly should :P

oh, right - today i got the first phase (of two) authorization for my holidays :)

Monday, November 10, 2008

where did the day disappear to? i don't feel like i got enough done, but it was a good one nonetheless :)

i met my new flatmate this evening, and she seems really sweet. i unfortunately know that that doesn't mean much at this point, but i have hopes.

i went out to get my watch strap adjusted, and ran into one of the real estate agents who sent me off to check out a really nice apartment just a couple of hundred metres from where i am now. it's in need of some fixing up and the old woman's a little confused about value, but it's a definite possibility.

i was then informed by the jeweller that the strap is perfectly adjusted as it is. i just need to bulk up...

all my friends are sick or unavailable, so it looks like i'm gonna be heading out to the alternative line alone tonight :(

Sunday, November 09, 2008

i watched mythbusters take down the "moon landing hoax" conspiracy theory with style, and pretty soon after left to train.

i trained pretty hard, fighting exhaustion and a little dizziness, and did some shopping on the way home - post-training chocolate is just what the doctor ordered. unfortunately, i'm still a little spaced out.

after planning holidays with my mother (and getting frustrated with dates as usual) i had a shower and then did the next super-tuna salad while catching up on comics.

i totally forgot to mention that i tried a number of times this past weekend to tune my guitar - and failed abominably. it's really hard.

today's smoothness was unexpected and put me slightly off-balance. everything just kind of flowed, i remember an incredible amount of arbitrary things (and relevant stuff, too!), and although i didn't get what i wanted out of this morning's meeting we seem to be fine. aside from holding meetings at 7.20am, which is just silly.

i'm surprised that the bites that i woke up at 2am suffering from practically disappeared by the time i got on the shuttle, slight red bumps remain and they're not itchy. strange. i didn't get much sleep after the incident, and getting up at 5.30am just doesn't suit me. oh, well - only another two years of this to go :P

i just made myself a super-tuna salad in anticipation of training a bit later, so now i have to decide how to spend the next couple of hours. things're all right, i guess.

boo waking up at 1.30am having been eaten by mosquitoes who're coming back for more!

this sucks.

i met up with karnaf earlier and we went for a beer, but the bar wasn't open yet so that turned into really expensive coffee and what appeared to be watered-down orange juice. we moved on to rabin square for the 13th memorial of his assassination, and stayed long enough to be counted before heading back to the mate bar, a sweet place that i've just always passed on the way to other places.

we talked a lot about a lot, but his closing remark amused me: "you're so damn optimistic!" - yes, and it's because i firmly believe that until everything goes wrong you just gotta have faith. if you keep worrying about how bad things could be you'll never achieve anything.

i watched avp2 when i got home, which i didn't find too horrifying but fun to watch nonetheless, and then responsibly went to bed, leaving the window open invitingly for tiny wingéd terrorists to guzzle on my flesh.

i'm itchy and aggravated, now. at least we have our router up and running again.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

i've resorted to using the internet cafe by the may apartment because our router's buggered. funnily enough, as i logged in someone from our service provider called, so now i have to be home in an hour to sort that out.

the big news for the day is that the kid left. it's been surreal this week, watching him prep for the big journey, and now that it's happened i'm kinda disbelieving. our flatmate's begun moving into his old room, and i have yet to meet the new girl.

weird.

we went out to subkuch milega (or however it's written) last night, i was tired and the good food and chai made me really sleepy. i'd had my eyes closed for minute or two when one of the dog's friends from our first base recognized me and came over to chat.

i find it unbelievable how someone can be so very boring, and completely unaware of other people's lack of interest. he just kept going and going, on and on. his friends must have been pleased of the break 'cause they jumped up to go play pool, and mine couldn't figure out what he was selling.

and me having difficulty keeping my eyes open. that sucked somewhat.

this morning saw me finishing off the last of the tidying, i have another two bags to donate but my life's more or less organized.

i just remembered, i emergency-shaved last night just to stop itching, but i left everything above my neck - the kid remarked that i look like a bushwacker from the 90's wwf, and i gotta admit that when i do their gorilla walk even *i* see a resemblance.

great, the mouse just died. i hate internet cafe's. i just remembered that when i left the apartment earlier i got to see a cat chasing and catching a mouse.

i watched back to the future, saw the kid off and put on my blades, had a good go in the park and stopped by coffeeholic for breakfast on the way back home. now all i gotta do is mentally prepare for tomorrow.

Friday, November 07, 2008

i watched most of small soldiers until the kid arrived, and then we watched terminal velocity together. it's just as funny as i remembered, and considering that the last time i saw it was in the cinema i'm impressed at how much i retained :) [for instance, just how good-looking nastassja kinski is]

the internet's been a non-happening, and when i eventually tried restarting the machine i discovered a problem with the mbr - i figured reinstalling ubuntu would help, but i got stuck in the same place afterwards. i suddenly remembered that this was the first restart since i formatted my new hard disk... so i unhappily set about opening my spiffy new case to fix the master / slave jumpers.

it was a mission to discover that all the settings were correct, so even more unhappily i reconnected the drives and closed the case, and fortunately thought to check the bios settings on boot up. and therein lay the problem.

after much frustration and waking up our flatmate, we managed to get the network back online (as you can see), but only for certain websites, which means that i can't update my fresh install.

speaking of which, i'm surprised to be reminded that hackers was made in 1995, and i was amused at the time that the modem used to hack into the cable company was a zoom 28.8 external, the same model that we had just got at home.

i think i'm onto something: i'm always wondering about the "crazy eyes" (that look extra-specially stupid) that arsim make when they're picking a fight, but tonight, exhausted and after a while being subjected to cigarette smoke i felt like that's what i was doing just to be able to see straight on the way home.

the evening with the guys was pleasant. one of the primary debates was about my desire to move to a new job, and while my TL doesn't think it's going to happen and my team-mates don't want me to leave, a lot of the guys agree with me that i'm being perfectly reasonable about the whole thing. our SC's been avoiding me the last week, so we'll see on sunday morning which direction things will take.

i did the weekend shopping just after midnight, and now i'm showered and about ready for bed.

elves gone wild! contains a song called "paddled my bum" which was playing on 5fm radio in 1998 while we were working on the set for our school production of cabaret (i played one of the chorus' nazi youth).

i told the kid that i don't think that a good morning pool game a "successful" day doth make :Pi had a great breakfast, we donated a ton of stuff at the synagogue (apparently it all goes to new immigrants, a cause i can identify with), we did some shopping, hung up the washing, found a potential apartment through a real-estate website (i'll check it out tomorrow), had an excellent dinner at jeremiah (solid chicken salad - at some point i'm going to start eating at home, but not yet), met up with our landlord to swap bank guarantees and in my case pay rent (stings as usual), and now i'm off to join my team-mates for "happy hour".

the cd case i bought earlier has helped me organize a bit more. it's unbelievable how much tidying and organizing i've had to do after not being here almost half a year. my space is almost comfortable, and i'm learning to toss out the old. slowly but surely.

it was a bit nippy today - good thing my mac hall goodies arrived. the XXXL broken smiley shirt just made my day ^_^

i had an excellent egg 'n avo breakfast at cafeneto with my mum, then walked to the absorption assistance agency to sort out my most-alienable rights. the woman was rather unpleasant, and then she took offence when i tried to understand how long my rights will continue to exist.

i walked home, picked up my id book and some cash and returned to get it stamped and sorted. good thing i had a book with me (mark twain - the adventures of huckleberry finn) because the systems were down... and we spent half an hour filling out forms for something unrelated to my request... and then another excruciating ten minutes on a visa application form (an international and cost-free one)... and then it took forever to figure out what she was on about as far as my request was concerned.

the fact that this all took about an hour - not including the quick break when one of her teeth fell out - and that my mother was waiting for me at the mall kinda set me on edge. the frustration i experienced while trying to be polite in the face of her overwhelming demonstration of complete and utter incompetence lasted a while after the experience was over.

totalwaste trivia: cuz's copy of the colour of magic was the first real graphic novel i ever read, and it was what got me reading discworld books in the first place.

pity i left all my book gift vouchers at home...

no bus for old men - waiting for bus 56 in the sun was unpleasant, and the bus to herzeliya was crowded. my mother wasn't feeling well and there weren't enough young 'uns prepared to stand.

i'm an expiry date detector: for the second time, i managed to pick the one item in the stack that wasn't good. today's was a chocolate bar.

i crashed for an hour or two, woke up feeling awful. my mother and i took the train to the airport, and sat down to eat and wash a beer down with coffee after dealing with remarkably stupid security personnel and an idiot who held up the check-in line. [um - not like robbed, like made us all wait for nothing for a very long time - and got the girl all defensive for everyone else]

so after a pleasant rip-off dinner and an interesting chat, we said our goodbyes and i went to wait for the train... it arrived an hour later, so i sat reading until then. i got back home just in time to watch house with the kid, showered and have (in my head) gone to bed. tomorrow morning we'll do the lincoln thing.

because we can.

* i told her i'm glad she made it this far, and her response was "i reckon you had something to do with it you really redeemed yourself at the hospital for trying to murder me in my youth" - a reference to an incident (once upon a time) when my father caught me trying to smother her with a pillow. times change, i guess :P

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

i don't know why i woke up so early, i'll be back in bed in a minute to correct the error.

but i did find out that i was mistaken - i've been convinced for the last while that obama wouldn't have a chance because he's the right choice, and americans have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot. or their neighbours in the chest, whichever.

and i've only just regained access to the internet from my pc. getting the group file edited wasn't too difficult, but the lack of success with the wireless had me doing all sorts of strange things until an odd idea presented itself - and i switched usb ports.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

well, we did the ra'anana run to see family and family friends - it was nice, both times right until the goodbyes and having to explain that the chances of them seeing me without my mum are pretty close to nil. and not because i don't want to see them, but because it's such a mission to get there.

my ipod lasted until i got home, but i'm glad that i didn't plug it in before i revoked my own administrator privileges - it was mostly out of frustration with the issues i was experiencing with my lack of authorization, so many things were going wrong that i figured maybe the checkboxes were inversed.

now i know differently.

so i'm downloading the ubuntu installation cd from the kid's computer with intent to rewrite the groups file. this shouldn't be too hard... he says suspiciously. and it'll only take another couple of hours to get here. i'm off to eat.

the banker was kind to me this morning, and my ipod's suffering from low battery syndrome and nothing more serious.

over an absolutely fantastic kiwi-muesli breakfast i discovered two interesting-looking apartments for sale, only one was a misprint and the other was sold by the time i picked up the phone :(

my pc's working, i have access to all my gadgets but no permission to use the network. it's a known bug but no less frustrating for that. the kid has thrown a palm-device my way, we'll see if it suits me. if nothing else i can see myself playing simcity on the shuttle :)

i met up with one of the guys from the completion for lunch, and aside from it being weird to eat in the mess hall in civvies i discovered that he and our commander are dating... hmmm...

i now know where to donate clothing in tel aviv - sweet! it's right near the lincoln which is as good an excuse to play pool as any! (we have free hours ^_^)

my room's tidier and i'm exhausted. it was a long, long day, and i promised myself that i wouldn't connect my pc until the havoc surrounding my bed had been reduced to piles of distinguishables.

i began the day at the bank, where i didn't actually get much done, then got into uniform to go buy my new one. quite a mission, that. it's far away on the induction base. i wondered if vision would meet me for coffee (she serves there), but i didn't get a response.

i eventually found the shop i was looking for, and it's a crap store. they go out of their way to make one feel as uncomfortable as possible, and then take forever to handle each purchase.

after going through all the motions, quite patiently, i reached my turn.

first order of business: the store's system hasn't been updated with my recent promotion, so i can't buy anything until that's dealt with. superb.

second order of business: there's no way to return a damaged item even if it was bought damaged. wonderful.

so i was sorta upset when i left, although i calmed down really fast when i decided that my base secretariat can deal with it next week... their fault, their clean-up.

on the way back i dealt with a crazy who was hunting for a political conversation with anyone he could - when we began ignoring him he starting singing at the top of his lungs until we got to his stop.

i saw a sign today, that went something along the following lines: guys! are you having trouble with your health or finances?it's caused by your lack of respect for your sperm. avoid masturbation and sex out of wedlock and your luck will change!

on the way to meet my mum i picked up my pc - the guy had had difficulty with the aging video card so he simply slotted a new one in on his own account - i'm quite satisfied. so i'm now running 1gb of memory on a quadcore. sweet. gimp runs smoothly -- but i haven't noticed any difference in sudoku performance. how disappointing.

a woman on a bicycle wearing stretchy pants that had hooked over the seat should have been pulled over for indecent exposure. yes, i know she's not a shemale but the effect is the same.

i spoke to the kid about the current apartment situation: he's been living with the new guy for a month or two and instead of being flatmates they're like two people who just happen to be in the same space. i'm now on a mission to fix that, and i've begun with example-setting (like doing all the dishes and folding his laundry). if he doesn't get the hint quickly then we're going to have a chat.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

the immobiliser malfunctioned while my mum and i were at the mall this evening, so after stopping for a hamburger (or a number of little ones, it's supposedly an irish thing but you can colour me doubtful) we called the mechanic (at 9pm from tel aviv to herzeliya - i'm impressed!) to come and sort us out.

he rocked up in a battered old jalopy, and indicated that we should open the back door. i got the handle, and when he eventually opened from the inside and i handed it over he was pissed.

"it's not my car!""i didn't use force!""it's not my car! do you think the woman will care if i tell her you didn't use force?!"

look, the handle was bust and i'm the one who happened to pick it up. i'd only feel less sorry if my mum and i hadn't been giggling about the whole thing, and his getting more and more steamed only made us behave worse.

back to a most successful day:

my mum arrived at the coffee shop without a hitch

the mortgage bank experience was smooth and we have a definite budget

we've spoken to lots of agents and there're quite a few places to get through

we saw an apartment that we actually rather like

while mum napped, i got shopping done and sent in my computer for evaluation

we sat over chivas and tennis with her grandfather

i approved a solid upgrade for my pc - i was leaning towards it but the reasonable price convinced me

after two malls, we found my mum sandals that she can walk around comfortably in

we returned the car safely to her father, and i've decided to sleep here (her grandparents') tonight (both for the internet and because getting home at this hour is unlikely)

tomorrow's going to be a different story: lots of army stuff. my SC's worried that i'm coming to talk to him while i'm on holiday - good, i'll let him stew.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

that was last night... and then this afternoon, both post-lunch siesta and the actual afternoon nap. the drive up to the kibbutz was alright, the drive back was bumper-to-bumper and although the car drives smoothly it's really, really loud.

and the second cd that my mum bought me (artifakt - the magus) was quite a disappointment; quite frankly the frequently recurring dentist's drill and lack of substantive beats got under my skin. i'm hoping that it's a problem with the equalizer, but i doubt it.

lunch was at a place called "sahara", right next to the base i guarded at in january 2005 [see entries for the 12th and 18th]. i had my internal map all backwards, as usual :P

my to-do list at the moment is focused on tomorrow morning's visit to the mortgage bank, somehow magicking my pc fixed (i'm thinking upgrade, it's long overdue an overhaul) and arranging a meeting with my SC. and doing some forward planning. right now just getting home and managing to clear my room would be good.

oh - i almost forgot! as of tuesday, i've been in the army for four years! looking back on my posts from then, it's hard to believe how much i've learned / changed over the years.

there isn't much to do in eilat, aside from walk the promenade. so that's what my mum and i did for a day and a half - we walked and we talked (we talked a lot) and we sat down every now and again to eat or drink coffee.

the hotel was unsatisfactory as far as my mum was concerned, i was quite happy with it but my standards are kinda low at the moment.

this morning we took a bus back, me in my blues for the first time - a pity that the zip broke on the way :S

we had lunch at coffeeholic, i left my room in complete disarray and my computer's broken down properly (suspect: the power supply) to come to herzeliya and have dinner at her parents' place. everyone was excited for me, they broke out the champagne and presented me with a couple of stunning gifts, and the evening was loud and fun and filled with the joy of each other's company.

that's one of the kitschiest things i've typed in a while, but my mother and i have been having long conversations concerning family values and ours is a crazy and wonderful one... i'm really glad that i can appreciate it ^_^

her parents have given us use of their car for the weekend - i decided not to drive back to tel aviv because aside from being kinda tired, i'd have to find parking, tidy up my room, worry about my pc and get up relatively early in the morning. i'm happier staying here at her grandparents' place with my mum.

regarding the last couple of weeks:there's a bunch of stuff i want to talk about and can't, and a bunch of stuff that i barely remember because it all flew by so quickly. lots and lots of marching was involved, many last minute items had to be dealt with and the last six months came to a rather discrete and sometimes surprising end.

it was only just over a week ago that it was announced that i would be attaining the rank that i was supposed to, and i'm extremely happy with that. my mother got to see me receive a highly respectable rank in a proper military ceremony and that satisfies me.

my team commander from the last few months had a few interesting things to say, and i've learned a lot about myself over the last three months (specifically about focusing my frustration and not stressing) that will take me some time to really tune into.

my commander from the first leg of the course (who my mother agrees with me is quite something) was glowing with pride: the course seems to have softened me, which is to say that i was too hard for the army. in my mind that shouldn't make sense, but that just shows that i have improved.

armed with that, i have attained a slight insight into the events surrounding my dating vision - if i wasn't accepting of myself how could i accept anyone else? a pity. i've thought about her a lot since it was her birthday yesterday, and i'm sad that i couldn't handle something that was so good.

but i've definitely gotten better. i told a couple of my cousins tonight bits of my history, specifically surrounding my siblings, and they were shocked and then laughing and saying things like "no wonder you don't have a girlfriend!". it's long past time for me to be finding myself a suitable girl and doing the family thing.

i'm going to have to work really hard to manage my spare time from now on to make sure that i get all the millions of things that i want to do done. from gym and sports to studies and art-relateds, seeing friends and catching up on movies and books...

and sometime this week i'm going to have to have a chat with my SC, he's managed to conveniently forget that i'm trying to move. i need his authorization to go for a second interview and he feels that he's invested too much in me to let me go.

i finally finished fall of hyperion! it's like watching the godfather - brilliant but horrifically slow. and then i read norah vincent - self-made man and it is a fantastic read. inspired and insightful, and filled with sardonic snickering.

my mind's fluttering from subject to subject, i'm going to go to bed before it sludges out my ears.

here be dragons

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"If I thought that my reply would be to someone who would ever return to earth, this flame would remain without further movement; but as no one has ever returned alive from this gulf, if what I hear is true, I can answer you with no fear of infamy." t.s. eliot quoting dante